MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm volleyball team couldn't quite get over the hump in the second installment of the Queen City Cup, falling to intracity rival Southern New Hampshire University 26-24, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 at Stoutenburgh Gym Wednesday night.
Freshman outside Kathryn Teets (Dix Hills, N.Y.) tallied a match-high 18 kills and sophomore right side Brennah Gladwill (Citrus Heights, Calif.) added 14 kills for the Hawks, but Saint Anselm struggled to find the right consistency to put together a complete match.
Senior libero Melissa Jewett (Newton, Mass.) played inspired defense in the back row, recording a match-high 29 digs to take her career total up to 994 since her freshman season. Senior setter Natalie Steinwart (Aurora, Ill.) also tallied a match high with 45 assists and added 11 digs for her third double-double of the year.
Saint Anselm (6-6, 0-2 Northeast-10 Conference) seemed to be fighting uphill all night as they fell behind early in every set. In the first set alone, the Hawks overcame a 23-19 deficit to tie the set at 24 apiece. Though a pair of untimely errors—which would be a recurring theme throughout the night—would hand the first set to the Penmen.
Harboring a 2-0 set lead, Southern New Hampshire's momentum carried it to a 5-1 lead in the third set. Though after a Saint Anselm timeout, the Hawks came roaring back to actually take an 18-12 lead thanks to a plethora of Penmen errors. While SHNU would actually tie the set at 22, a kill by Teets and two more Penmen errors breathed life back into Saint Anselm.
Again, SNHU jumped out to an early 8-3 lead before the Hawks responded to tie the set at 15. Both teams scratched and clawed their way through to the final points, as a Teets kill pulled Saint Anselm to a 23-22 deficit. But, much like the first set, a pair of Hawk attack errors sealed the fate for the home team, as SNHU took home the 3-1 victory.
The Hawks will hit the road to close out September, traveling to American International Saturday afternoon before facing familiar foe Merrimack next Tuesday evening.
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